Silver Theatre
Preservation
Preservation
In 1984, the Art Deco
Society of Washington launched a historic preservation campaign in Silver
Spring to preserve the theater-shopping center complex and to blend it with
appropriate new development.
After a decade of grueling preservation advocacy, the Art Deco Society of Washington finally won its fight to grain legal protection for the 1938 Silver Theatre and Silver Spring Shopping Center complex. On February 1, 1994, the Montgomery County Council voted unanimously to add the complex to the county's Master Plan for Historic Preservation. This means that no permits for demolition of alteration can be obtained without a review by the county's Historic Preservation Commission. The complex also was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Meanwhile, ADSW located some original doors from the Silver Theatre in an Alexandria, Virginia antique shop. ADSW and the Silver Spring-Takoma Traffic Coalition purchased the doors and presented them to Montgomery County at a press conference on March 1, 1994.
Current redevelopment plans for Silver Spring call for the restoration of the Silver Theatre and the Silver Spring Shopping Center.
Anyone interested in this matter, especially Montgomery County residents, should contact Linda Lyons, co-chair of ADSW's preservation committee, about supporting ADSW's position and helping with the work of the committee.